Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
by michael1812
Summary: Set not long after Promises. Chiana's not herself anymore. She doesn't know what she likes anymore, who she is, what's bad, what's good, and which she wants. Trying to find out, trying to rediscover, she dares to leap into the lion's den.


"So we have Scorpius on board." Chiana said to D'Argo in the Maintenance Bay. "Will he betray us?"  
Chiana had been watching him load barrel after barrel into his ship Lo'La, without helping even one barrel up.  
D'Argo jolted his head to the side for a split second, sniffing the air, trying not to think about the uncomfortable silence that had lingered in the many microts before that question pierced the sound waves.  
D'Argo did not know what to think of her sudden clinginess or chitchat, but because of their friendship he played along.  
"I think we can trust him," D'Argo said. "Up to a point. The times that I've talked to him he seemed reasonable. He would make a good ally. It's just…"  
"Just what?" Chiana asked.  
D'Argo sighed.  
"His smell," he said. "It's…morbid."

Sikozu had tried to hold her back, but Chiana refused to back down, stampeding towards his cell like a bullet from a gun.  
The doors swung open and he instinctively sat upright, patiently awaiting his predator's plan.  
And he listened.  
"Now you'll listen to me, right?" Chiana said, keeping close to the door as he stood up. "You don't harm the ones I care about. Not anymore."  
She pointed her finger at him, but his slow approach did not stop.  
"…I mean, You're one stop away from being ditched on some backwater planet."  
Chiana liked him not liking it, adding to her momentum and attitude, daring her one step closer.  
"You don't scare me," Chiana said to the Scarran halfbreed.  
"Perhaps," Scorpius said. "But on the other hand, girl, you don't scare me."  
She stopped pointing.  
Moya's lights reflected off his leather gear when he stepped into the light, every spike and scale on his armour blinked.  
When he hissed, she heaved, and looked away when she noticed herself doing it, but she liked it.  
"She froze for a moment, letting him come even nearer, but he would not harm her, and she knew it.  
She tried to kick him in the genitals, but he had seen it coming and deflected her leg.  
When she punched him, she hit nothing but air when Scorpius grabbed her hand.  
He pulled her closer and with superior strength he threw her across the room roaring like a dragon.  
The impact shattered a dresser, its wood buckled and snapped into bits and pieces.  
He took one step closer, gasping deeply for breath to combat the heat that was building up inside of him, calming him down in an instant.  
Scorpius glanced at Sikozu who remained in the doorway, distraught over what happened to Chiana, yet fiercely judging her wild, unjust behaviour to their guest.  
Yet she did not intervene.  
Scorpius watched her for a moment, before he growled at her: "Leave."  
Hesitant, she lingered in the doorway, looking to see if Chiana was all right, but it was Scorpius's glare that made her leave in the end.  
Chiana was shaking as Scorpius examined his gloves.  
He instantly crouched down beside the girl and established firm eye contact, but Chiana refused.  
"Frell you!" she shouted as she pulled herself away.  
Scorpius smoothly returned to his upright position, watching the unstable girl choose between him or the door, but she was unable to decide what to do.  
He had tried to connect with her, tried to make an understanding, but the Nebari girl chose not to be understood.  
"I don't care what you do to me…" Chiana said.  
Scorpius saw the girl's behaviour and sighed, turning his back on her to return to his bed, as if she had already left.  
"Hey!" Chiana cried. "Where're you going? I'm not done yet!"  
"But I am." Scorpius replied. "I will not participate in this…"  
He struggled to find the right word to fit this insanity.  
"…futility."  
"But you're my prisoner!" Chiana said. "I can have you do anything I want!"  
Scorpius growled, but chose to ignore her nonetheless.  
He laid himself down on his bed again, whilst the Nebari girl was still there, muttering to herself, choosing in what way she would torment the prisoner.  
But she didn't.  
Her teases did not work on Scorpius and he closed his eyes just as easily as he would if the room were empty.  
Yet he listened carefully.  
"Fine!" Chiana said, as she started to kick his resting body. "You don't have to listen to me! You just have to…"

"CHIANA!" John shouted and Chiana turned to face the doorway.  
Scorpius opened his eyes only halfway, before he closed them again.  
Chiana moved back to the door, whilst glancing at Scorpius only once, before walking out of the shadows completely.  
She made her walk of shame to Crichton, but deep down she felt nothing.  
She was faking everything.  
"What the hell are you doing?" John said to her, after he waved his arm over the door controls. "You don't do that!"  
The door whizzed shut again.  
John took her hand and drew her in closer in order to whisper to her.  
"You know that he can kill you, right?"  
"I'm not afraid of him." Chiana emphasized, so that Scorpius could hear.  
"Yes," John said. "I get that."  
He thanked Sikozu by merely looking at her.  
The gesture was lost on her.  
"But what you don't do is poke the crocodile with a stick! Because you're going to lose your hand!"  
Scorpius sat upright again and looked through the bars of his cell, knowing Crichton was looking right back at him.  
"Don't." John interrupted Chiana, showing her his finger.  
"I made a promise. To Aeryn. And I'm not going to break it. We don't hurt him. End of story."  
"No, it's not. He's still here!"  
"He's always going to be here!" John spoke as he dragged her into a different corridor. "He's Scorpius! And he's not a pet, Chiana! He's dangerous."  
Next time you're looking for someone to talk to, don't go to Hannibal Lecter over there. Go to me."  
Chiana smiled faintly.  
"You were busy." she said. "And I like…dangerous."  
The image had been burned into John's eyeballs, etched into his mind, Harvey had only been gone so long…  
He grabbed her neck, but did not squeeze.  
"Not Scorpius." he said to her, looking straight into her eyes.  
And she kissed him.  
Their lips locked and John could not move away, letting his hands let go of her neck and wave through the air aimlessly until she'd let go.  
He tucked his upper lip over his under lip and couldn't help but taste her still.  
He would've smiled, maybe even laughed, but he didn't when he saw her face and saw she wasn't.  
She was reaching out, feeling him, herself, her sex, and she too, tasted him, many seconds longer than him.  
"Thank you"," she whispered.  
He nodded, knowing this wasn't about the kiss.  
"I'll just go to my quarters and kick something," Chiana finally said. "And I hope it's Rygel."  
John was allowed to laugh now.  
"Play safe." he said to her as she disappeared around the corner.


End file.
